Sound Off: Cars are allowed to park on Barker Avenue, just north of 23rd Street. That creates a traffic hazard. Who can I speak to about banning parking close to that intersection?

The Traffic Safety Commission makes recommendations to the City Commission on this type of request. Submit your request to Traffic Engineer David Woosley at dwoosley@lawrenceks.org or 832-3035 for discussion at the TSC’s next meeting.

Comments

If you are referring to the dental office located on the corner of 23rd and Barker, I agree. Very often the dental patients park in the street making it a tight squeeze at the intersection. The real problem on Barker avenue are the concrete islands with the yellow caution signs. Is there a reason those have not been taken out? The yellow signs get replaced on a weekly basis.

Those islands have significantly slowed the traffic on Barker from from what it was before. Before they were put in people would regularly hit 40-50 mph or more accelerating from 19th to 23rd (or vice versa) as there is no stop sign intervening. So they have served their purpose without having to use up police time enforcing the speed limit. It is unfortunate that this is the case, but given the quality and attitude of some (certainly not the majority) of drivers it is a good idea.

The major problem is that they allow street parking too close to the barrier islands so that it is often difficult to negotiate.

Actually...all the way up to 14th street cars regularly park too close to the traffic islands but the police won't do anything unless there is a complaint. BTW...I think this is about the truck with the flame paint job

+1. Barker Avenu is a residential street. It's not designed for traffic speed or effiency. It's designed for neighborhood access. Of course, public streets are for all drivers, but using Barker Avenue is a choice. If you don't like the street, choose one that suits your needs better.

People have been parking on the street by that dental office for decades. Just have the city put up a no parking sign five car lengths back from the stop sign. That should provide enough room since about the only times there are more than two cars on Barker at that light is 5:05pm to 5:30pm M-F and on KU football game days when the dental office closes at Noon.

There is a parking lot with ingress/egress off Barker. There's not room enough for a larger parking lot; they would have to extend it into the yard next door. That office has been there over 25 years and Lawrence has grown quite a bit since then, creating more traffic.